Do Japanese Women Eat Sushi, Do French Women Eat Soft Cheese/Pate

[Kaydee]

Yes, it's wise to be careful - but i find "these days" people are too obsessive about this issue and the actual stress of analysing everything you eat can be more harm than what you put in your mouth.

I avoided soft cheese, raw egg, penuts and a couple of othere things. I live in Germany and i love salami - I only had it on rare occasions throughout my pregnancy as I was aware it was to be avoided.

[mrsmac]

I agree with the too obsessive, when i had DD one they didn't have half of these rules.
As someone pointed out, they do eat those things in France and Japan etc, one of the guys at work tried to stop me eating calamari and octopus when I was pg and as a greek friend said the women in greek villages have been eating it when pg for centuries.

[Phteven]

I broke heaps of the 'rules' when I was pregnant. TBH I didn't even know the sushi one and I ate heaps of sushi. I had the odd serve of soft cheese too.

[MrsFabuloso]

i didn't really go by the 'rules' either. I ate ham, runny eggs, etc...I just avoided the more obvious things, like salad bars. There are too many rules these days!!

[M22]

hmm- been thiking the same thing cause the only thing i've been craving is sushi. i went to japan at 23 weeks and had it there though- trying to avoid it here but it'ssoooooooooo hard

[Antheia]

If i listened to all the 'rules' I would have nothing to eat! I do limit my serving of fish to twice a fortnight though. But i eat soft serve (only at maccas cause their turn over is huge) and subway, cold meat from the deli (but obviously not if it looks bad), pasta salad. Have done through the other kids pregnancies too we are all fine. Everything in moderation though!

[M22]

mm, that is terrible about your friend i am curiuos though how did they find out it was that that caused it??

[Kaydee]

I think like in Japan, they make their own Sushi in their homes which is fine to do as long as you use proper hygiene you know? Whereas if you buy it outside your home you have no control over who is preparing the food and what happens to it.
Sushi is soooo risky for bacteria.

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

[Phteven]

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

The sushi rice is actually very susceptible to bacteria.

[Shanti]

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

Actually, the rice is prone to bacteria! so is the seaweed.... yes mercury is in fish but in a very small amount like in one roll? can't see how that would do much harm you'd have to eat quite a few rolls!

Eating fish is so good for pregnant women but again, in moderation. I eat sardines 2 times a week Mmmm yum! Great brain food.

[tutmae]

I make my own sushi at home and generally have avocado and cucumber ones, sometimes with chicken. DH thinks it's ridiculous that there are so many rules for us pg women to follow "just in case". I'm not flout the rules ridiculously, but I'm not super dooper strict either. I think I was craving a ham sandich a few weeks ago andd had one. I think the stress can sometimes be more harmful than letting yourself have a little bit of something "naughty".

[Astrid]

I followed my gut with foods and I found it served me well. One occasion I looked at a whole table of food and just went I can't eat any of that. I was right, everyone else got food poisoning. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and very thankful I went with my initial reaction to seeing the food. I still ate what I wanted after that, but always followed my instinct, so sometimes I would have sushi and other times the look of it turned me off.

[MantaRay]

To whoever asked, the thing with runny eggs is salmonella. It can be in any egg that is not totally cooked and the same with chicken. When pg salmonella is harmful to the foetus. It is not a common problem in eggs and it doesn't grow in eggs that are refridgerated. But of course the eggs are stored for a quite a while before you buy them.

I lived in Japan for a year and sushi was usually only eaten on special occassions in the home. And it was really only eaten as often in restaurants as we would here.

[M22]

MR- i am so jealous you lived there

[MantaRay]

It was awesome LSK. I absolutely love it there.

[Bathsheba]

ETA: I hadn't read the whole thread when I posted this.... sorry.

I followed my gut with foods and I found it served me well. One occasion I looked at a whole table of food and just went I can't eat any of that. I was right, everyone else got food poisoning. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and very thankful I went with my initial reaction to seeing the food. I still ate what I wanted after that, but always followed my instinct, so sometimes I would have sushi and other times the look of it turned me off.

That's how I was as well with all 3 pregnancies. Sometimes there is false security in blindly following rules and not actually being educated. There is a difference. I think we would all agree that you could follow the food-types rules and still contract listeria or salmonella. It's just like Astrid said: you have to THINK about the hygiene and history of foods as a PRIME consideration as to whether it's safe.

I have worked in commercial kitchens and have training as to safe and hygienic food handling practises. This serves me far better than a food group list. Example: I would and have eaten a soft cheese that I have unwrapped from an air tight packet that was within "used by" dates. I would not eat the same cheese if it was unwrapped at an unknown point in time. My logic also works as Fiona put it... French women still eat brie when pregnant etc.

ETA: Ok... I am considering deleting this post because after reading the whole thread it might be a bit inappropriate to share my thoughts at this point of the discussion...

Um, Possibly one reason why I personally decided to take the risk in eating sushi and soft cheese during my pregnancies was because I don't eat red meat (mammals) and I think that perhaps I may have needed the extra protein...

[buliej]

I'm so happy to know these facts and that people share them on bellybelly - and add their insights and explanations. I would be devastated to find out I ate something that harmed my baby - and it would be worse if that something was known by few/some/many/all but me to carry a risk to a fetus. I under stand applying common sense about food handling as well - but I think this is as an added layer of protection - not "instead of" the foods that have been shown to potentially carry listeria or salmonella, etc. This information is put out there to serve and educate mothers-to-be - I'm thankful for it and for the progress of science generally - both in terms of understanding better what may impede the delivery of a happy and healthy baby..and in my case, hopefully even giving me the ability to have a baby.

Of course, if I read on the internet for the first time about a food being bad and it didn't jive with anything else I knew, I'd look into it/ask my dr or midwife to make sure it wasn't something like an old wives' tale.

Also, Flowerchild - I am glad you mentioned that about pasteurizing - I can easily see thinking that something was pasteurized and therefore not a risk - even though now that I think about it more carefully, what you are saying seems almost obvious - but it wasn't to me!

[spooky]

Sorry if someone has already stated this ( I don't have time to read the whole thread) but unpasturised cheese IS available in Australia now - albeit limited and very expensive! Just keep this is mind if you choose to eat soft or blue cheese (and some hard now) that you can enquire as to wether or not unpasturised milk was used.

Grana and reggie are also made (in Italy so the real stuff) with unpasturised milk, but are then hard cooked (hot) so that is how this one slipped through the system.

It is illegal to make cheese with unpasturised milk in Australia so if this is a concern for you, support the local industry.